The entire state of California is reeling from three years of catastrophic drought that will soon force cities and farmers to limit the amount of water they use during the summer, the driest time of the year.
Central Valley, often called the "nation's salad bowl" because it provides a majority of our fruits and vegetables, has been especially hard hit by the ongoing drought.
One-third of produce in the United States is grown in the Central Valley, made up of Sacramento Valley in the north and San Joaquin Valley in the south.
Here's how these crippling water shortages and restrictions are putting our food supply at risk.
While we normally think of California as warm and sunny, the Sierra Nevada mountains in the north are usually coated with feet of snow. Many of California's reservoirs are fed by mountain runoff from snow that melts in the spring and summer.
Since the 1960s, the California Aqueduct has carried meltwater from the Sierra mountains in the north to croplands in the south through a network of canals, tunnels, and pipelines.
But this year, California's reservoirs will not be replenished over the spring and summer by the melting snowpack.
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